It sucks losing him over an exhibition game but it would be even worse off a cheap shot. Also, there really should be a better way to get games on TV out of state. I'd gladly pay Comcast or FSD for a Michigan Hockey package.

It's a good thing that Connor Carrick carefully weighed the OHL's contention that he wouldn't receive regular playing time against Michigan's recent history of losing important defensemen to injury/illness/suspension (Mitera, Kampfer, Burlon, Merrill) and said, "Of course I'll be an important contributor!"

Do any of the forwards jump out as potential defenseman? Looks like things are going to be pretty thin on the back end again this year.

Edit: I forgot about Mike Szuma, so at least there are still 7 warm bodies back there. Hopefully Serville and Chiasson had productive offseasons.

Sucks, but hopefully it keeps him a little bit fresher for the meat of the CCHA season (like last year) and we can go on another January-March run (like last year). His absence will get the younger guys more minutes early on this year, which is good for their development.

Also, I was at the game, and it was scary. We saw his head snap back immediately, and he almost fell over after he got back up to his feet. Looked like concussion, assuming that's not a factor, the broken vertebrae could almost be considered lucky.